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| This picture postcard was sent early in the 1900s |
Harriet Warner Hall was a 9-year-old child when she arrived
with her parents Orin and Jane Warner on July 4, 1851, to be the 3rd
resident family of the place called Wolf River. When Mrs. Hall was interviewed
about the founding of the community years later, she discussed the homemade
beer at the wedding of Amine Parker and George Fowles in 1857. She said when
there was a fiddler around, there was a dance, and that meant homemade beer to
whet the whistle.
Harriet told about the fledgling community’s first
Christmas, one of wont and deprivation. She didn’t describe bringing in the new
year, which became more important as the hamlet gained residents. The 1850s
residents did not bring in the new year with champagne toasts, but as time went
on, that changed.
When Kewaunee Enterprize* began publication in September
1859, among the first ads were those for Berni & Zimmermann’s new Ellis
Street Brewery. Also on Ellis Street was Joseph Duchoslav who was also brewing
lager beer. The Enterprize informed readership about ship arrivals and
in just one month in Fall 1859 ship arrivals at Hills & Carter’s South Pier
in Kewaunee included three trips by Capt. James Flood. Flood brought beer in
three of his four trips: 12 kegs, 10 kegs, 4 kegs which is a lot of beer for a
county with 5,300 residents when roughly 2,400 were under the age of 20. If
county residents wanted to bring in the year raising a glass or two, there
would have been no shortage. Ahnepee* was without a newspaper until June 1873.
Capt. Flood was frequently mentioned and always a popular captain, who no doubt
made Ahnepee with the same products he brought to Kewaunee.
The Ahnapee Brewery was operating when the newly organized Record
had thoughts on “spirits” well before New Years, possibly because of the Temperance
movement when it said what a “practical toper proposed.” And what is a toper? Simply
put, according to the Wiktionary, a toper is a drunkard.
As a compromise to Temperance women, the Record reported
that one who “topes” might say, “O, woman, in our hours of ease, you know we’ll
do what ‘ere you please; we’ll promise to renounce the sin of Bourbon, brandy,
rum and gin, and so far as to refrain (except when tempted) from champagne; but
have some mercy, do my dear, and leave, oh, leave us lager beer.” Was the Record
plugging its advertisers!
By
the early 1870s, W.N. Perry was selling California wine and Kentucky whiskies
at his drugstore. Sam Perry was advertising wine and liquor in any quantity and
Weilep, Decker, Boedecker, Villers and Marsh applied for liquor licenses. H.M.
Terens let it be known he “constantly” had liquor in his Alaska House.
During its first year of publication – 1873 - the Record said
New Year’s passed off quietly in the city* with nothing important going on.
Several churches had services but it was sleigh riding that the young indulged.
It seems as if Perry sold some of that fine wine and whiskey because he ran an
ad asking all who owed him more than 30 days to stop at his drugstore to pay their
debt.
It seemed as if 1877 must have been a slow news New Year as
the Record saw fit to report on the Memoirs of St. Simon who commented
on the hair dressing of the women of Paris in 1713. That year, the Duke and
Duchess of Shrewsbury came from London to have the Duchess say hair fashions
were ridiculous. Parisian women were wearing brass wire edifices to hold up
their hair over two feet. They adorned the “structure” with ribbons and what
the Duchess thought was rubbish. Moving caused the edifice to tremble. King
Louis XlV was disgusted with the hair, but even as King, he could do nothing to
get rid of the fashion that lasted for 10 years.
As it was, 1877 was a year that set records. On January 3,
the Record reported a balmy, spring-like new year with lilac buds
turning green and even opening. Door County farmers were plowing, and Sever
Anderson, in Clay Banks, sowed 4 bushels of spring wheat the day before
Christmas. Cold toes and ears for New Year’s suggested weather was turning.
The Baptist Church planned a Dime Sociable which offered
choice readings, singing, instrumental music. All proceeds were to go to
reducing the church debts. That was happening when about 75 people surprised the Charles Fellows family at New Years. The
group met at George Youngs’ residence and then “took the Fellows’ residence by
storm.” The Record said some who had not taken part in such an event in
20 years were among those who turned out, and that Fellows would remember the
evening forever. Fellows invited the throng to gather at his Foscoro home for
New Years Eve 1878.
During those early years, county residents thought of more
at the New Year than the raised glass. Whether folks went to Fellows’ Foscoro
home in 1878 is debatable because typhoid was almost sweeping the county.
Teacher Fannie Gregor and her sister were quite sick, as were Charles Deda and
Dr. Martin. With Martin in bed and so much sickness, Dr. F. Simon of Manitowoc
was called to Kewaunee to offer his assistance.
Typhoid was there in 1878, along with some scarlet fever
when the weather changed after Christmas. Roads partially froze, although not
hard enough to support teams in places. Some said New Year’s seemed like Sunday
because businesses closed, and folks attended services at nearly every
denomination. “Happy New Year” was heard all over and streets were filled with
smiles even though residents were dealing with serious illnesses.
Tanner Michael Luckenbach ended 1878 marketing his house and
lot at the corner of Navarino and 4th Streets. Luckenbach felt his
lot, with 80’ frontage on 4th and 150’ on Navarino, was the best in
the village. He planned to sell for $800 with $200 down and the balance on easy
terms. Luckenbach sold his tannery to his partner, Mr. Meverden, and in
December 1878 was proprietor of the East River House in Green Bay. Luckenbach didn’t
get the tannery out of his system because his Green Bay hotel was opposite a
large tannery. A small part of the original tannery business burned when
Bearcat’s Fish House was destroyed in a 2021 fire.
With the news there was, one would not think the paper had
to go looking for it. But it did, and reported on an unusual custom found in
the Boston Transcript. Apparently Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Gauls
saw eggs as renewal at both Easter and New Year’s. If those in Boston
celebrated New Years with eggs, it was not noted, however such a custom never
caught on in Ahnapee.
In 1879 the Record
said the new year was received with feelings of dread as the old was remembered
with regret, however it felt that the year was good to people. It went on to
opine that if there was nothing to regret, there was nothing to hope for in the
future. According to the Record, the beginning of the year is for making
resolutions but later in the season was the time to break the slate. Nothing
new there.
C.J. Barnes bought the Record in August 1879 from
Hiram Wing who received a flattering offer from Jamestown, Dakota. Barnes thanked customers and asked them to continue the
support. He felt the new decade would bring improvements to the lively, newsy paper
and to the office, a resolution which would not be broken because it was a Leap
Year, and “a little off.” Why a little off? Editor Barnes said 1880 was a year
where “women propose and men dispose.” He continued to make a statement, saying
it was “jubilant when we think how jolly it is going to be to say “no” as “It’s
a long lane that no turn has.” The paper suggested each day should be an
improvement on the past since lives are strengthened by experience. Diphtheria raised its ugly head again and New
Year’s Eve 1879 saw the C. Martin family of Carlton lose three children to
diphtheria. They were kept together and buried in one grave. Just after that,
two more of the Martin children died. It was said one school district had 20
children who died of diphtheria.
Light housekeeper Samuel Stone was living in Sandy Bay when
he went to Manitowoc where he saw Dr. Cookley on December 30, 1879. Stone had
surgery for a Rebel bullet to the leg in the Civil War 16 years earlier. Stone
wanted Cookley to prob for the bullet which had pained him for so long. Cookley
made an incision on the opposite side of the leg where he found a good-sized chunk
of lead. Surgery was successful, and Stone said he felt like a different man.
The Record marked the end of 1879 by mentioning its
large subscriber list, thanking subscribers and friends for sending in news
items. The paper said it would be glad to have all subscribers pay up a year in
advance and forward names of those who would be possible subscribers. The close
of 1879 found the firm of Hitchcock & Kwapil dissolved by the retirement of
Mr. Hitchcock. His part of the property in the Alaska store and pier was bought
by Frank Shimmel and Joseph H. Janda who joined Frank Kwapil in the new
company. That transaction made the company the largest business in the northern
part of Kewaunee Co. as the firm had three stores in operation, the one in
Ahnapee, one in Forestville and the new company at Alaska.
To round out the year, Simon Pies reminded folks to pay
their City* of Ahnapee taxes which would be collected at his 4th
Street residence.
A watch meeting at the Methodist Episcopal Church on New Year’s
Eve welcomed 1880. Residents also brought in the year at two balls, one at the
Temple of Honor, given by William Dingman, and the other at the Wisconsin House.
Both dances were said to “pass off merrily” into the small hours of the
morning. The Record promised the day would linger in the minds of many
with “thoughts of sweet and loving kindness” before passing into time. The same
paper that offered a “Happy New Year” also said, “Pay your taxes.”
As the city grew, ads called attention to fine wines and
oysters, which were popular at New Year’s. There were parties and dances for
those who could get there if the roads had hard packed snow to allow the horses
to get through. Harriet Warner Hall felt the pioneer days ended in about 1860. Although
Ahnapee was greatly affected by the Civil War, there were marked changes in the
1860s and 1870s. Ahnapee was no backwater.
Notes: Renamed
Algoma in 1897, its first name was Wolf River and derivations until 1859 when
it was renamed Ahnepee (Ojibwa for “Where is the river?”) until the place was
chartered as a village in 1873 when there was a change in the spelling. Since the
state and others consistently spelled the place’s name with two a’s and two e’s,
the village couldn’t “beat ‘em” so “joined ‘em.” In 1879 the Village of Ahnapee
was chartered as the City of Ahnapee.
Kewaunee’s
newspaper underwent a spelling change in 1865 when Enterprize became Enterprise.
Sources: Ahnapee
Record, Algoma Record Herald; An-An-api-sebe” Where is the River”; Kewaunee
Enterprize/Enterprise; https://en.wiktionary.org. The postcard is from the blogger's collection. Images can be found in the Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson Collection at Algoma Public Library,
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